If you could cast the nominees for best director as character types, Alfonso Cuarón could be the charming foreigner who laughs at his less-than-perfect command of the English language, Steve McQueen would be the erudite Brit who revels in tough subject matter, Alexander Payne would be the indie type whose films have achieved mainstream success, David O. Russell would be the charismatic auteur who is on a huge roll and Martin Scorsese would be, well, the legendary director Martin Scorsese.
The question is whether Oscar voters will follow the lead of the Directors Guild of America– and the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globes– and anoint Cuarón for his “Gravity,” which would certainly be a popular choice. In addition to directing the Sandra Bullock-starrer, Cuarón was the producer, editor and co-writer of the space saga, with his son—and has two other Oscar nods for best picture and editing of the film, making up three of his total six Oscar nominations since 2003.
In three of the past four years, Russell has been Oscar-nominated as best director, for 2011’s “The Fighter” and last year’s “Silver Linings Playbook.” The best tribute to his directing style this year for “American Hustle” may be that all four of his leading and supporting actors are nominated for Oscars—an accomplishment that is now two years running–with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence repeating that feat from last year’s playbook.
Steve McQueen didn’t hit the campaign trail as hard as Russell, but his work is much admired going back to “Shame” (2011) and “Hunger” (2008). Much like Cooper, Lawrence and Christian Bale are to Russell, Michael Fassbender is McQueen’s muse—and Lupita Nyong’o may be his new one after all the acclaim she’s receiving for “12 Years a Slave.” McQueen reportedly auditioned 1,000 actresses for the role of Patsey before giving the career making gig to her. McQueen would be the first black director ever to win the Academy Award.
Payne is also a critics’ darling, but somehow has never been an Oscar favorite in the directing category, although he has two statuettes, both for writing or cowriting the adapted screenplays for “The Descendants” and “Sideways.” His first Oscar nomination came in 2000, also for writing the indie hit “Election.” Interesting that he did not write “Nebraska,” but that its scribe, Bob Nelson, is up for an Oscar.
Scorsese, hard as though it is to believe, has only won one Oscar, for directing 2006’s “The Departed.” His first directing nod came in 1981 for “Raging Bull.” Yet since “Gangs of New York,” four of his last five films have received Best Picture nominations, including this year’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Scorsese doesn’t “need” an Oscar to boost his already legendary status as one of the world’s most respected directors, it’s just hard to fathom why he doesn’t have more on his mantel.
TAR’s Take: If Cuarón doesn’t take the trophy, it will be a huge upset. We are actually rooting for Scorsese, because we got on board the “Wolf” train very early and enjoyed the wild ride with him at the helm.
–Hillary Atkin
